28 July 2012

Please pray God will divinely intervene and stop this outbreak of the deadly ebola virus in Uganda. Ask Him to protect the people living in the affected villages and to prevent further contamination. Pray for the families who have already lost loved ones....

FILE: May 2011: A laboratory specialist examines specimens of the Ebola virus at the Uganda virus research centre in Entebbe. (Reuters)

KAMPALA, Uganda – The deadly Ebola virus has killed 14 people in western Uganda this month, Ugandan health officials said on Saturday, ending weeks of speculation about the cause of a strange disease that had many people fleeing their homes.
The officials and a World Health Organization representative told a news conference in Kampala Saturday that there is "an outbreak of Ebola" in Uganda.
"Laboratory investigations done at the Uganda Virus Research Institute...have confirmed that the strange disease reported in Kibaale is indeed Ebola hemorrhagic fever," the Ugandan government and WHO said in joint statement.
Kibaale is a district in midwestern Uganda, where people in recent weeks have been troubled by a mysterious illness that seemed to have come from nowhere. Ugandan health officials had been stumped as well, and spent weeks conducting laboratory tests that were at first inconclusive.
On Friday, Joaquim Saweka, the WHO representative in Uganda, told The Associated Press that investigators were "not so sure" it was Ebola, and a Ugandan health official dismissed the possibility of Ebola as merely a rumor. It appears firm evidence of Ebola was clinched overnight.
Health officials told reporters in Kampala that the 14 dead were among 20 reported with the disease. Two of the infected have been isolated for examination by researchers and health officials. A clinical officer and, days later, her 4-month-old baby died from the disease caused by the Ebola virus, officials said.
Officials urged Ugandans to be calm, saying a national emergency taskforce had been set up to stop the disease from spreading far and wide.
There is no cure or vaccine for Ebola, and in Uganda, where in 2000 the disease killed 224 people and left hundreds more traumatized, it resurrects terrible memories.
Ebola, which manifests itself as a hemorrhagic fever, is highly infectious and kills quickly. It was first reported in 1976 in Congo and is named for the river where it was recognized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Scientists don't know the natural reservoir of the virus, but they suspect the first victim in an Ebola outbreak gets infected through contact with an infected animal, such as a monkey.
The virus can be transmitted in several ways, including through direct contact with the blood of an infected person. During communal funerals, for example, when the bereaved come into contact with an Ebola victim, the virus can be contracted, officials said, warning against unnecessary contact with suspected cases of Ebola.
In Kibaale, some villagers had started abandoning their homes in recent weeks to escape what they thought was an illness that had something to do with bad luck, because people were quickly falling ill and dying, and there was no immediate explanation, officials said.
Officials said now that they've verified Ebola in the area, they can concentrate on controlling the disease. Ebola patients were being treated at the only major hospital in Kibaale, said Stephen Byaruhanga, the district's health secretary.
"Being a strange disease, we were shocked to learn that it was Ebola," Byaruhanga said. "Our only hope is that in the past when Ebola broke out in other parts of Uganda it was controlled."
The challenge, he said, was retaining the services of all the nurses and doctors who are being asked to risk their lives in order to look after the sick.
"Their lives are at stake," he said.
Officials also worry that other villagers suffering from other diseases might be afraid to visit the hospital for fear of catching Ebola, he said.

26 July 2012

Last night, chaplain cadets and visitors from Calvary Mountain View Church celebrated their last night together with praises, pushups, and footwashing.

The men danced and sang, exalting the Lion of Judah and celebrating their unity in Christ.

Afterward, the cadets sat and listened as Pastor Joe McCormick spoke, exhorting them to become men of honor, chaplains who would defend their country, love one woman and care for her all the days of their lives – and remember how to do a proper pushup! “Many start well,” he challenged them. “Will you finish well?”

Joe also encouraged them in their bonds with each other. As the Sudanese are so divided into various tribes, unity among the cadets takes time and effort. “Are there any Dinkas here?” Joe asked, naming one of the tribes represented in the group. “No, no Dinkas!” the men responded. “Any Madi?” he pressed. “No, no Madi!” they responded. “What tribe are you?” Joe demanded. “Lion of Judah! Lion of Judah!” they shouted, their chant drowning out the sound of the pouring rain outside.

Trainers lined up alongside the cadets for a final set of pushups. “Pushups are good!” Joe shouted. “Pushups are fun!”

Afterward Joe spoke again, reminding the cadets of how he and the other trainers have demonstrated leadership to them over the past few weeks: in humble service, leading by example. The trainers brought in towels and tubs of water and spent the next half hour washing each cadet’s feet and praying for him individually.

In a culture where many enter the ministry simply for the chance of comfort and respectability, we pray that the godly investment these trainers have made in the cadets would have a lasting impact on them and on this nation.

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” Isaiah 52:7

p.s. Hopefully in the next couple of days we'll be able to upload a video or two of that night!

Not what a man is in himself as a Christian, his spirituality and piety, constitues the basis of our community. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us. This is true not merely in the beginning, as though in the course of time something else were to be added to our community; it remains so for all the future and to all eternity. I have community with others and I shall continue to have it only through Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will eveyrthing else between us recede and the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and His work become the only thing that is vital between us. We have one another only through Christ, but through Christ we do have one another, wholly and for all eternity.

25 July 2012

If God sets out to make you an unusual Christian He is not likely to be as gentle as He is usually pictured by the popular teachers. A sculptor does not use a manicure set to reduce the rude, unshapely marble to a thing of beauty. The saw, the hammer and the chisel are cruel tools, but without them the rough stone must remain forever formless and unbeautiful. To do His supreme work of grace within you He will take from your heart everything you love most. Everything you trust in will go from you. Piles of ashes will lie where your most precious treasures used to be. This is not to teach the sanctifying power of poverty. If to be poor made men holy every tramp on park bench would be a saint. But God knows the secret of removing things from our hearts while they still remain to us. What He does is to restrain us from enjoying them. He lets us have them but makes us psychologically unable to let our hearts go out to them. Thus they are useful without being harmful.

23 July 2012

Recently we hosted a team from Calvary Chapel High Desert, my sending church. It was such a joy to have them here and serve alongside them. This team was very busy and did much travelling. The first night they got here within a few hours they had to repack and get on a plane to Congo. Then when they came back from Congo to Nairobi they did the same thing and went to Mombasa. Through the hard travelling and small obstacles like (broken matatus, and flat tires) the team was able to accomplish so much through the strength of the Lord. Many times I could see the exhaustion from rough roads, or no sleep, but when it came time to minister the Lord was faithful to meet each of us there and give us the power and joy for His glory.

In Barraka, Congo we had a conference for men and women on the roles of each in the Bible. My prayer partner and sweet friend Isabel and I taught on women’s roles as a godly wife, mother, woman, and to find our identity in Christ. Pastor Dave (CCNairobi) and Pastor Ibrahim (CCBarraka) taught on the being a godly husband and father. For the conference there were two combined sessions one was on marriage, which Pastor Brian (CCHD) taught. The second combined teaching I was blessed to be able to teach on Health Education, basic things like hand washing, bringing down fevers, tropical diseases, nutrition, and other things that could help them save lives and use the items available. After the teaching many came up to me for prayer, questions on health, and even brought sick children. It breaks my heart to see those who are sick who could get better with simple solutions; there is just such a great need for education. During my seminar three doctors and clinicians came to the conference in order to learn ways to help with health and diseases. They are still in need of more resources and education so pray that the Lord will provide for them the wisdom needed to treat the community. The CCHD team also did many outreaches with films and singing where hundreds of people came and heard the Gospel. The great thing was that they also hosted a VBS at the church there where many children were able to play, sing, and learn about God. These children also were able to have a meal which was probably the best meal they had in a month, malnutrition is high in that war torn area.

The team also went to Mombasa, Kenya where Isabel and I were able to teach again a women’s conference on the roles of women and the importance of finding our identity and purpose in Christ. Many women came and heard the Gospel and the Word and three women came to Christ on that day, one lady even was involved in witchcraft. Please continue to keep these women in prayer that they would be faithful to come to church and grow in His Word. The team also did a VBS at one of the local schools there that is in the center of a highly Islamic community. Each child was blessed by the teachings and games the team brought. Calvary Chapel Mombasa even had baptisms on the beach, it was so sweet to see those who wanted to make a profession of their faith to the world. There were even two team members from CCHD that were baptized as well.

The great thing about teams that come out to serve alongside the brothers and sisters here in Africa is that they provide encouragement to the full time ministers. It was such a joy to see Pastor Ibrahim and Pastor Benedictor in their churchs serving the people and showing the love of Christ to all they met. They both were sent out by Calvary Chapel Nairobi and to see how the Lord is using them in mighty was to reach their community is such a huge encouragement to me, and just a blessing to be able to be a part of the work God is doing.

Please continue to pray for the church in Barraka and in Mombasa as each face their own form of persecution from the community. The Congo battles with a lot of cults and witchcraft, and the church in Mombasa is in the center of a highly Islamic area. Pray that all the outreaches the CCHD team did would bring forth fruit for the Lord’s Kingdom.

22 July 2012

Over the weekend, we visited in Jele to follow up with the 15 villagers who prayed to receive Christ a couple of weeks ago. It was a sweet time.Under a tree in the middle of the village, Michael preached and the Rabuna Fi ladies sang, danced, and prayed with the new believers who came. A few of the Rabuna Fi ladies, along with a couple of chaplains and a couple of trainers from the States, went sharing door to door.

Vicky, Gifti, Jen, Rose, Elizabeth, and Rebecca visited two ladies who had been suicidal for years.

"I was changed after I accepted Christ," one of the ladies shared. "But I have been getting discouraged again. Now I want to be one of you."

"We could be sisters, our stories are so similar," the other lady added. "I tried to kill myself, too. I took every pill I could find, but nothing happened. Now I want to live with hope. I want to live for God."

Kumi, Joe, Cezarina, and Scovia visited a lady called Betty who had been bleeding uncontrollably for the past three months. At the hospital, she had tested positive for both typhoid and malaria and was told that she had only 4 liters of blood left in her body. The medicine she was given did nothing to help.

That day, for the first time in months, she managed to get out of bed and go out to her field. There, she found that all her groundnuts had been eaten by rats and the rest of her crops were overgrown by weeds. Falling to her knees, she cried out to God: "Forgive me if I have committed any sin against You, because if I have, I don't know what it is. Please lead me on the right path."

Weeping, she started home. On the way, she heard the Rabuna Fi ladies singing in the distance, and her childen came running to meet her, shouting, "Mom, the people from the church have come!" She went inside to wash her feet to join the gathering, but her legs so weak, she didn't know if she would make it. Just then, Kumi, Joe, Cezarina and Scovia showed up at her door.

Betty shared her story with them and asked for prayer, since there is no church in the village she can go for help. "God has visited your home because you prayed," the group encouraged her. "He is able to direct you and heal you."

Please continue to pray for the village of Jele, especially for the new believers! Pray that God would raise up chaplins and ladies to visit regularly to encourage them and teach them the Word of God.

The last
six months the national media has been candidly reporting testimonies from
women who managed to escape the horrors of slavery and sex trafficking. Read a
few of the summarized testimonies on our cause page (http://www.causes.com/causes/659251-far-reaching-ministries-aviation)
but the recurring theme of these stories is, “I thought I was going to work at
a legitimate job, only to find myself a slave.”

Employment
agencies use every deceitful means of persuasion in the book - including
claiming to be “Pastors” - to lure unsuspecting, and largely unskilled, poverty
stricken, people by the thousands. The duped employment seekers are promised a
job, a salary (in Kenya equivalent to about $200/month), and transportation. In
return, the victims must surrender their passports, pack their suitcases, and
report to the agency office for the flight - only to be herded together in a
group through the airport. Sadly, once they “reach” their destination it’s
often another country then they were told and it’s ALWAYS a job no one would
knowingly accept. Women are forced into sex slavery and prostitution then
tortured, tormented, and traumatized!

BUT, you
see they can’t leave because someone from the “agency” kept their passport, they
can’t get on a flight because the “salary” they were promised never comes, and
they can’t ask local authorities for help because so many are directly linked in to the trafficking network!
The corruption has infected every level of the system in the countries on the
sending and receiving end. It’s the best funded industry and the most lucrative
financially – drugs can only be sold ONCE; but people can be sold OVER and OVER
again. The odds are overwhelmingly against us…BUT God is on our side!

God led
us to sound a call to prayer (http://frmusa.org/#/human-trafficking)
and MANY of you joined in our battle. In Nimule, we have prayed with tears
asking God to shut such agencies - that
are actually instruments of cruelty - down. We asked in FAITH and God has done
it!

This
weekend the Daily Nation newspaper reported that the government has banned all
hiring agencies from sending citizens to Middle East countries. It’s not the
end to Trafficking in Kenya, it’s a beginning…PLEASE KEEP PRAYING…

Behold, the LORD's
hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot
hear.

But your iniquities
have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you,
so that He will not hear…No one calls
for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak
lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity…The way of peace they have
not known, and there is no justice in
their ways; they have made themselves crooked paths; whoever takes that way
shall not know peace.

Therefore justice is
far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us; we look for light, but there
is darkness…our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify
against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we
know them: in transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing from our
God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart
words of falsehood.Justice is turned
back, and righteousness stands afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and
equity cannot enter.

So truth fails, and
he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

Then the LORD saw it,
and it displeased Him that there was no justice.He saw that there was no man, and wondered
that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him;
and His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a
breastplate, and a helmet of
salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with
zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury
to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies …He will fully repay.

So shall they fear the
name of the LORD …and His glory from the rising of the sun;

When the enemy comes
in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him.

“The Redeemer will
come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob.

As for Me,” says the LORD, “This is My covenant
with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and

My words which I
have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth,

nor from the mouth
of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants' descendants,”

10 July 2012

We made it back
from our trip to encourage our chaplains in the Nuba Mountains. Pastor James
Olal stayed on because we met with impassable roads. Please pray God will
anoint every second of his ministry there and every encounter with the precious
saints.

We only were
able to see a few of the men - but those few men challenged us greatly! Thank
you for your prayers - we heard over and over again that God specifically and
powerfully answered our prayers.

I asked Chaplain
Jaber Tutu, “What is the greatest evidence to you that God has been with you
this last year while you served at the front?” He replied, “Eight bombs were
dropped within a meter of where I sought shelter and not one of them detonated.This happened in three different cities. Only
God has that kind of power to protect His servants!”

Please continue to pray for
the people suffering in Southern Kordufan, Darfur, Blue Nile, and Abeyei...

The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all
the sons of men.From the place of His
dwelling He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts
individually; He considers all their works. No king is saved by the multitude
of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength.A horse is a vain hope for safety; neither
shall it deliver any by its great strength.Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope
in His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in
famine.Our soul waits for the LORD; He is
our Help and our Shield.For our heart
shall rejoice in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name.Let Your mercy, O LORD, be upon us, just as
we hope in You.

06 July 2012

Today one of our senior chaplains begins his journey back to his hometown, one of the most dangerous areas in the Sudan.

Raised in a Muslim home, he came to know Christ after someone gave him an Arabic Bible. Since his conversion, he has endured much for the faith. On one occasion, he met a soldier who had been badly wounded by the enemy, only to learn that the enemy had mistaken this man for him.

He has been praying for men who would join him on this journey no matter what the cost. For a while, there were no such men to be found, so he began reaching out and discipling the men around him. Now he returns to his hometown accompanied by a full battalion.

This morning, chaplains and guests gathered to pray over him before his departure. Afterward, I had the privilege of speaking with him for a few minutes.

"I am on a mission to my country," he said. "It is difficult. All the people are Muslims - all of them."

He compared his countrymen to people sitting together in a dark room. He said he wants to open the door for the Light to shine on them. "It is very difficult for me," he repeated. "But I know that the people of America will pray for me and help me."

He asks that you would pray for his countrymen to come to know the Word of God; for the Holy Spirit to move; and for him to be strong to fight with the Word of God.